Wrapping it up

Wednesday 9am- sitting in the Milan airport about to head home. Last night spent overstuffing a ski bag (déjà vu from 25 years ago), enjoying a vintner-sponsored wine tasting with Nils (who’s nose picked up that it had rained during the harvest- go figure), and saying goodbye to Roberta who’s been an unbelievable host, mother, maitre d at our home away from home- the Pragelato Village Resort. Hard to believe that it’s already over- the experience very Survivor-like with many different personalities brought to close proximity for an intense experience, then disbanded. As expected, many fond memories.

The K125 event was spectacular. Since attendance had been high the previous night for the qualifying event I was expecting our first full house for the final. Bear in mind the stadium only seats 8,500 (my recollection is over 40,000 in Lillehammer 1994) so it wouldn’t take much to sell out. Regardless, the “main event” had many open seats but still a great deal of excitement and energy from the crowd. Norwegian Lars Bystoel whose patient and precise style has meshed well with the high altitude continued to ride this wave and finished bronze. The story of the night was a pair of young Austrians- Thomas Morgenstern (19) and Andreas Kofler (21)- who surprised themselves as much as the crowd with spectacular performances that clearly separated them from the competition. The younger- Morgenstern- ended up with the gold by literally the narrowest of margins- 0.1 pt, though many felt the judges were too harsh in penalizing Kofler’s slip on the landing in his last jump. Kofler is your typical class clown who told me he had never really committed to training until this year. He won his first world cup a couple of weeks before the Olympics and that momentum served him well. Morgenstern has been a highly managed Austrian property for a long time. He, too, has only won one world cup- but it was 3 years ago as a 16 year old! The promise of that early potential was paid in full at these Olympics. It was an anxious moment after Kofler’s jump as judges’ scores were tabulated and the pair celebrated knowing for sure they were gold and silver but not knowing who was which. Morgenstern looked positively lost when he realized he’d won gold. I don’t think he could fathom the reality. Many may dream of Olympic gold but few dare expect it. Morgenstern’s father somehow made it out of the stands and on to the medal stand for one of the most heartfelt bear hugs I’ve ever seen.

For the Austrians as a team- shut out of the medals in 2002 after the death of a coach gave the program a shock- the breakthrough of Kofler and Morgenstern was great medicine. Their good news roll continued two nights later when this same pair single-handedly pulled them to victory in the team event. Interesting item in this competition was the Norwegian’s decision to ski Tommy Ingebritsen, the only team member who had not skied in an individual event. It seemed to me that they were making a statement about a) their depth, and b) their sense of team. Admirable positions but positions that, in the end, cost them any shot at gold or silver. They finished a very respectable bronze, a great improvement over the 9th (yes, 9th!) place finish in 2002 (behind Korea, among others). Ironic, too, that the Norwegians crossed borders to hire a Finn, Mikka Kojonkoski, to lead them from the 2002 doldrums. I would say his job is secure for a couple more years at least.

Transportation has been a constant irritant at these games and it peaked for my family after the K125. Despite the modest crowds they waited over 2 hours for a bus home. The wait was the least of the problems as crowds turned ugly when temperatures fell and chaos built. In general I’ve found Italy only loosely managed. There’s a sense that everything will work out in the end so why sweat the small stuff. This, of course, collides smartly with the expectations of Americans who tend to be a little more high-strung. And it was ironic, but probably not surprising, that the angry threats and screams from the crowd that night were not in French, German or Italian, but English. Yes- while there was indeed a lack of organization on the part of the Italian’s it was the impatience and arrogance of the Americans, as guests, who turned the scene ugly. There’s a lesson here somewhere.

Another regrettable American scene was senior US Nordic combined skier Todd Lodwick’s ripping of team mate Carl van Loan for his performance in the NC team event. This sort of thing happens every day in sandboxes across the country but this was the Olympics and there wasn’t much news-- especially for Americans-- so the microphones were on, and folks who usually get no notice were offered a voice and the result was in the papers. Nordic combined is the furthest thing from a team sport and the qualities that make a strong competitor are often the polar opposite of qualities that make a good citizen so the incident seems predictable especially with the pressure these athletes feel around the Olympics. News teams creating news in the absence of same; but something that NBC felt they had to follow up on since it had been in the papers. I was surprised that both Todd and Carl were willing to discuss the situation on camera. Both were extremely articulate and did a nice job of sharing their perspectives in a positive light. I was appreciative that producer David Gibson, avoided the temtation to throw gas on this fire and handled the coverage in so diplomatic a fashion. Many people around the venue felt quite judgmental about what had happened, but I don’t believe any of this showed through the coverage.

My own TV bloopers were numerous and a couple I’ll mention. The first being a comment I made in the Nordic combined event on the normal hill: German Georg Hettich won the jumping and was not expected to hold on in the XC to win gold. In describing him (and struggling for a strong metaphor) I said he flew like a bird but ran like a walrus (sleep deprivation). When word filtered back that he had indeed held on to win the gold, David kindly went and removed my comments before they hit the air. I was not completely saved, however, as a few nights later Nils (who grew up in AUT and speaks perfect German) was in a restaurant and shared the story with a group of Germans at the next table. He didn’t recognize Georg in their midst. A good laugh was had by all. Another censored effort was my attempt to paint ski jumping as the extreme sport that it is. My original comment was that ski jumpers were the most extreme athletes at the games but for the fact that they wear clothes that fit and speak in full sentences. Again, wiser heads prevailed. NBC is very much trying to draw the boarder audience and I of course understand this. (Boardercross in the Winter Olympics!? Are you kidding me? What's next, roller derby?)

A word on the US ski jumpers. Their performances on the hills of Pragelato were not what they’d hoped but they proved themselves to be great sportsmen and I applaud them for this. Every four years the media swoop in looking for heroes and it is always a disappointment to miss this opportunity to shine. Vancouver 2010? Let’s hope so.

As expected, the highlight of the games for me occurred well off the field of play. It was a subtle moment at the top of the chairlift. A brutal day with heavy snow and fog so thick you couldn’t tell if you were moving or not- but we had persevered and made the most of it. We’d had a great lunch at the Gimonte hut with family and friends and wanted to record the moment. It was a group of Russians who were closest and it took some gesturing to communicate what we wanted but they got it. A photo was taken of our group, a return photo was taken of their group. Pats and handshakes and pins exchanged- many smiles. No common words, but very common dreams: almost the exact same moment that I had shared 22 years earlier in Sarajevo as an athlete in doping control: a moment with no words needed, celebrating all we had and all we had in common.

Last Questions From Class

What does the village place where the athletes stay and sleep look like?
There are two villages- one in the mountains (in Sestriere) and one in Torino. I've only seen the Sestriere village. There are three main buildings that are round and maybe 10 stories tall that look like large silos. Then there are a bunch of 2 story condo-like buildings around the base of these. There are MANY different flags hanging out of windows signifying the nation of whoever is staying in the room. It is very festive. There's of course a fence around the entire complex with lots of police and security. Inside you can get just about anything at any time- newspapers, laundry, video games, food. It's like a little city that never sleeps.

How big is the largest ski jump?
There are ski flying hills on which you can jump over 200 meters: Obertsdorf, Germany, Kulm, Austria, Planica, Slovenia, and Harachov, Czech Republic. These are the biggest. The world record is over 230 meters.

Would you ever try skeleton?
I think skeleton looks like a great sport- such simple equipment for so fascinating an experience. I would like to try it from about 100 yards up from the finish before deciding if I'd dare to go higher.

Have you done any other sports in or out of the Olympics that you like?
Nothing very well- but I like soccer, golf, and any sport that involves keep score- winning or losing.

How does it feel to be on TV?
Not always comfortable, but luckily I get to work with folks who do it all the time and make it as simple as possible. Mostly I like returning the sport I love in a capacity that gives me a front row seat and a chance to reconnect with friends from other countries who I haven't seen in many years.

What gave you the passion to ski jump?
I loved to jump... even before I was very good, I loved to jump. My brothers and I used to build jumps in the woods around our house and run extension cords so we could play after dark. The passion was there before I knew what to do with it. You will find the same.


There are a couple of things I'm wondering about: How much do the athletes from different countries mingle?
Athletes within the same sport mingle a great deal. They're literally like actors who present a different version of the same show in 20 cities over 20 weeks in the winter. They know each other very well. Like any community there are people who are well-liked and others who are not... it depends on what role you want to play in the community. I think that one thing the athletes love about the Olympics is the chance to mingle (in the Olympic village) with athletes from other sports and other nations.

Also, some NBC commentators are positive (Dick Button) and others seem to pick apart every flaw in a performance. Do you get guidelines from the network or is it a personal decision about how detailed to be?
This is such a great question! NBC has given us some very clear direction in a very narrow spectrum, beyond that it's up to the individual. They want us to "tell stories" in order to engage the viewer in the personal lives, trials, and tribulations of these athletes. They want us to be impartial journalists vs. USA cheerleaders. We should never been seen as cheering for the Americans. It is interesting to watch some of the European coverage and how completely biased they are- cheering like crazy for their home team.

Two Day Marathon Event

You can't spend two weeks in the mountains competing in weather-sensitive events without some delays... this is the reality, but doesn't make it any easier when things start changing. The NC team event began on schedule on Wednesday morning. Everything seemed like it was going to be smooth. Trial jump- no issue, first round- no issue. Then Bill Demong- USA's first of four jumpers in the second round- came down and had an uncharacteristically short jump. He felt like it was technically one of his best efforts but that a heavy tailwind had brought him down. All wind data is watched and recorded here and US coaches confirmed that the wind had been bad for Demong and announced their intention to protest the round. Fortunately for the US, other coaches noticed the changing conditions and didn't want to take the chance that one of their skiers would fall victim to the same bad luck. The round was cancelled and eventually restarted but deteriorating conditions through the late morning and early afternoon made it impossible to complete the second round (and leave time for the skiers to finish a 4x5km XC race in the afternoon). The decision- let the first round stand and try to get the second round in on Thursday, a schedule that, despite some indications to the contrary, was able to be maintained. In the end it was a disappointing day for Team USA as they jumped to 8th and then moved up to 7th in a field of 9 teams. One of the stronger teams in the competition- Norway- didn't even compete because 3 of their skiers were ill with symptoms ranging from scratchy throat to flu. They wanted to rest up for their last event- the sprint event (one jump on K125 and 7.5km XC) next week. Given their absence, Team USA really felt like they had a chance to medal. When I saw Bill Demong on Wednesday morning he said he was frankly disappointed to have the Norwegians pull out because he felt the US was strong enough to beat them anyway. Things can change quickly.

Todd Lodwick is one of the big names in US Nordic combined (and quite popular in Europe where the world cup events are on TV every weekend). He is planning to retire after this season and wants to go out with a bang. He's going to dress in traditional ski attire- knickers and a Norwegian sweater- to compete in one of his last events in Oslo, Norway... perhaps giving up meters and minutes on the jump and xc trail ,but forever leaving an image for the Norwegians who have admired and supported him for so many years. It should be quite a sight. I ran into Todd's parents at the team event yesterday and had a chance to catch up. It's been a grueling trip for them as public transportation has been sketchy and their 20'+ fish pole (retractable) to which they tie an American flag has been the source of many hassles from bus drivers and police. Still, though- they've managed to work it into every event site and it's a signature feature in the stands of every NC competion. Todd's mom had a gift that had been presented to her from some of Todd's European fans- a homemade 4' x 6' Todd Lodwick banner that thanked him for his years of competition.

One last story about Lars Bysteol, the Norwegian who's partying antics had put him at cross purposes with the Norwegian team. In the days that followed his gold medal performance on the K95 hill I heard of multiple Bysteol sightings in the village of Sestriere, home of the mountain athlete village. In each case Lars had his gold medal with him and was showing to anyone who wanted to see it (a gold medal tends to invite a crowd). There are at least a few people working with me at NBC who not only had a chance to see the medal but also have pictures of themselves wearing it! Somehow you picture a gold medal being secreted away to an undisclosed secure location. Not in this case. Let's hope Lars' medal makes it home with him.

On the family front- everyone showed up in brave form yesterday evening after many trains, planes and automobiles. A quick shower then dinner. Up yesterday am, then down again, then sneaking into the team NC event by showing their NBC visitor pass. A gold medal performance! Stands have been so empty for NC events that they've been happy to fill the seats. On Wednesday they gave 2,000 grammar school students the day off and brought them to the jumps where they performed admirably, cheering throughout the entire day!. If it weren't for the parents of athletes I'm not sure there would have been 100 people in the stands for the second round of jumping Thursday morning. I've been to better attended little league games.

Friday morning and snowing. Heavy rain yesterday yielded to bluebird skies which in turn fell to evening snows that have continued through the night. Forecasts call for strong winds which could put a damper on tonight's large hill qualifying event. Fingers crossed.

Q & A from Ms. Hannah's (& Grace's) 5th grade class

Was it scary when you first ski jumped?
It was a little scary, but fun. When you are young you start on jumps that are much smaller than what you see on TV... a little more than a mogul. As you get better you progress to bigger and bigger jumps. The jumpers that you see on TV have no fear of going off these jumps. They do it over 500 times a year and rarely fall. We spoke to Swiss jumper Andi Keuttel about what scared him- he said dogs! Never ski jumps, but dogs. I was at the top of the K125 yesterday and I can tell you that the fearlessness does not last for long. There is NO WAY I would go off this jump anymore. These guys are amazing.

How old were you when you started ski jumping?
I was 8 but I have seen people start as late as 12 and still become world class. As with any sport, the key is passion and ability vs. an early start.

Does it matter what skis you have to do the different skiing sports?
Skis make a HUGE difference (and are very different). This is something we haven't had time to show on TV. A jumping ski is over 8' long and 4.5" wide. It has no edges (because you don't need to make precise turns). It is designed to maximize speed on the inrun and then provide a wing to help a jumper fly through the air. A cross country ski is about 6' long, 1.5" wide and weighs nothing. Downhill skis have side cut and edges that help the skis turn. If any of the skiers at the Olympics were to try and use skis from another discipline it would be a disaster.

Do women compete in ski jumping in the Olympics?
Women do not compete in ski jumping (or Nordic combined) in the Olympics- YET. In ski jumping the women have started their own international tour and are petitioning to become an Olympic sport. The Americans are actually very strong in women's ski jumping (as we are in most women's sports). Google Lindsay Van (one of the top Americans) and I'm sure you'll see. I think it's still a long shot that they will be included in the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, but I expect they will be included by 2014.

If you could do another Olympic sport what would it be?
Downhill (if I had the guts!).

How many years have you been involved with the Olympics?
I worked as a forerunner in the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid- those are the guys who test the hill before practice and competition to make sure conditions are good for the real athletes. I competed as a ski jumper in 1984 in Sarajevo and was 9th and 4th on the normal and large hill. In Calgary 1988 I was the jumping coach for the Nordic combined team and also did commentary for ABC who was covering those games. Since then I've been doing commentary for whatever network was covering the games- 1992- Albertville, FRA; 1994, Lillehammer, NOR; 1998, Nagano, JPN; and 2002, Salt Lake City.

How does it feel to be in the Olympics?
As an athlete in a small sport like ski jumping it feels very foreign. These athletes say that the Olympics are just another competition and that's true. The competitors here are the same as at any of the 20+ world cups they compete in every year. But this is the Olympics and now the world is watching. For the Americans, who get little coverage in non-Olympic years, it's like walking out of a cave into the headlights of an oncoming truck.

What is it like in Torino, Italy?
As a city, Torino is quite big- about 800,000 people, over 2 million in the region. There are very few tall buildings, though, so it feels much smaller than Boston (though traffic is as bad). There's at least one McDonald's in the city but in general there are very few nationally branded stores and restaurants. No Home Depot, K-Mart, Toys-R-Us, etc. Buying food is especially different here. There aren't any big grocery stores that have everything... many people still buy their meat at the butcher, bread at the baker, etc. The only grocery store in Pragelato is the size of a classroom with very small sections for produce, dairy, etc. Not much selection. Like most old cities in Europe Torino has a very nice old section of town where the roads a generally narrow and the buildings are hundreds of years old. The city has grown around this.

As far as the Torino scene during the Olympics, I can't really say as I haven't been there since before the games began. I'm in the tiny village of Pragelato that is only 50 miles away but feels like it's in a different solar system. Pragelato is hosting the jumping and cross country events and has a festive Olympic feel all its own- there are lots of different athletes walking around in different uniforms... and fans speaking different languages. The valley locale provides good viewing even if you don't have a ticket. It's not unusual to see people lining the road or sitting in balconies with binoculars and a radio or TV- listening to the event they're seeing in front of them. There are lots of police everywhere, but they seem happy and chatty and are as much a part of the social scene as anyone.

Why do they have trees at the end of the ski jump and why don't they use
something else?
I assume you're asking about the little pine boughs that they throw on the bottom of the landing hill. These are spread out so the jumpers can clearly see the transition of the landing hill. Since the jumps are in the shade (and the contours of white on white snow are hard distinguish), the dark pine boughs provide contrast that help the jumpers know what's coming. They've been using pine boughs for as long as anyone can remember- they're very effective and easy to find (since there are usually lots of pine/spruce trees next to ski jumps).

Everyone Regroups

Sunday was another busy day with the K95 special jumping. To say there were some upsets would be an understatement. World cup leader Janda never meshed well with this hill and was out of it from the start. The Finn, Ahohnen, who at 28 has everything except an individual Olympic medal had tough conditions on the last round and fell to 6th. A surprise Russian, Vassiliev, who had jumped well in training but never finished in the top 10 in a world cup in his life, was leading after the 1st round but had similarly difficult conditions and fell to 10th. The surprise was Norwegian Lars Bystoel who won his first ever world cup this season and now holds a gold medal as well.

Two favorites in the Nordic combined who did very poorly in their opening event- Ronny Ackermann of Germany and Hannu Manninen of Finland- have taken some serious strides to regain form in the few days that they have between events. Ackermann travelled to France where he got 9 jumps to train on new boots and bindings and re-tuned skis (he would have only gotten 3 official training jumps in Torino). He felt his slow inrun speeds were hampering his efforts and a new finish on his bases haved helped this. His new boots also provide a better feeling and in training today he looked very strong. It has completely changed his personality, as well. The sour, silent Ronny is now a memory.

The Finn, Manninen felt that the high altitude of the athlete village in Sestriere was hurting his wind (he skied very poorly in the XC portion of the event) so he has moved out of the village and down the valley to a lower altitude. I will be surprised if this makes much a difference.

It was a recharge day for the NBC team. Some went to Torino while another group of us headed out for a day of alpine skiing. Much of the skiing is above treeline and the scenery is spectacular. We were right on the Italian border- part of the group of areas that are accessible are in France. One $22 ticket got us access to all of this. We spent a good part of the afternoon on the porch of the Gimonte Hut. A small slopeside restaurant run by the family that is only accessible by snowmobile or ski. They had a special Gimonte pizza (everything- including anchovies) that was fantastic. The family lives upstairs and were wonderful to us. They said that business is down for the Olympics as it has not been a great snow year and many tourists are scared away by Olympic traffic. Before we left they insisted that we join them for a shot of cintrongelo- a local "celebratory" drink.

It is interesting that I know less about the Olympics here in Pragelato than anyone in the US. When I speak to people back home they ask questions about Kwan's pull out, Kildow's fall, Bode's switching skis and I not only have no insights, but have no idea what they're talking about. Maybe if I spoke Italian it would be different... but it's giving me an appreciation for the US coverage (that I'd always thought was inferior to European).

Tomorrow, the Nordic combined team event- Former German NC skier, Hans Peter Pohl, who is doing German TV predicts a German victory followed by Austria and Finland. I'm thinking Norway will fit in there somewhere. All we know is that we don't know... and I guess that's reason enough to watch.

Busy Saturday

It is 11 pm in Pragelato and Matt V. and I are waiting for the late night ski jumping show to be put together so we can voice it and get home to bed. We’re betting on a 2 am finish (8 pm NY time) which might be optimistic. Our show doesn’t air until 12 midnight NY time and we’ve been told that if you give a producer an 8 hour deadline he’ll take 8:01. I'm betting on 6am. (Post script- it was 5:45am)
The day started with a 30 minute wait at security- they have three doorways but only one x-ray machine- a bottleneck. The Nordic combined event came off smoothly in the morning with no real surprises. The big Finn, Manninen, left the jump in 9th place, within easy striking distance of the leaders (given his XC strength). Strangely, the wheels came off for him somewhere over the 15 kms and he finished a an extremely disappointing 9th. The overwhelming powerhouse in the sport is still without an individual Olympic medal. German Georg Hettich, who has never even won a world cup event, held on the lead he established on the jumping hill to win the gold medal. USA hope Todd Lodwick dug himself just deep enough in the jumping to miss the medals, as well. He finished a very respectable 8th place despite a throw-up bug a couple of days ago. He’s still got the sprint event (1 jump on the large hill, then 7.5 km XC) ahead. The TV coverage for the Nordic combined event came off pretty smoothly (we handle the jumping, Paul Robbins and Al Trauwig take care of the XC portion. Paul and Todd's personal coach, Tom Steitz watched the jumping in the am). There wasn’t much time to play around with things as our event was first on the air this afternoon and we still had the special jumping qualifying event to do in the evening. Which is what we wait for now. We’ve shot the “on-camera” where Matt and I introduce the event. Matt’s a great TV talent… I am not. We’d still be shooting if it weren’t for the miracles of modern editing. Aside from this, things are looking good- an interesting story of an old jumper’s comeback- 37 year old “Happy” Harada from Japan who hadn’t skied at the world cup level in 4 years but found himself back in the hunt as he skied very well in training. Long story short- he’s now DQ’ed for tomorrow because he’s too skinny. There’s a minimum standard set to prevent jumpers from starving themselves to unhealthy levels in efforts to fly farther (fat don’t fly)… Harada found himself below that standard at weigh-in tonight. Another story is Amman, the Swiss Harry Potter look alike who won both individual events in 2002. He had not won anything before and hasn’t since. Everyone waited to see if magic would return. It didn’t. I'm rooting for Andi Keuttel- great personality from Switzerland but think Ahonen, a Finn, will be tough to beat.
Caitlyn and Leah arrived from Rome last night; Pragelato their base camp for an assault on Sauze d’Oulx to watch their friend Hannah Kearney compete in the women’s mogul event tonight. Hannah is the current world champion in the event and expectations were high. I haven’t seen the footage to know what happened, but saw the results. The good news is she had two friends that had literally traveled half way around the world to be at her side regardless of the outcome.
Looking at the downhill training results from today. Four Americans in the top 12. Tomorrow they go for real.

Opening Day

The Torino Olympics will officially open in 2 hours but we will not feel the effects up here in tiny Pragelato. All eyes and efforts are focussed on the events that will begin tomorrow @ 11 am when the Nordic combined skiers take their first competitive jumps. By afternoon they will have topped off their morning jumping efforts with 15 kms of cross country and the first medals of the Games will be awarded. There are two strong stories in this event- Hannu Manninen, a Finn who has won everything in Nordic combined EXCEPT an individual Olympic or world championship medal will try to shake 3 medal-less Games (he has team medals). He is big for a ski jumper (6'2") and initially had trouble with the thin air and tail wind here in Pragelato. In today's training, however, he jumped very well and with this momentum he's again looking like the favorite. He's an extremely friendly guy who was very generous with his time as we interviewed him this afternoon (check out his webstie www.hannumanninen.net). The other story is Todd Lodwick: another medal-less skier who's competing in his 4th Olympics. At 29 he says this is his last season. He and his wife Sunny just had a baby daughter, Charley, a little over a month ago and the whole family is in town to watch. Todd's has won world cups and had many top 3 finishes (just 2nd and 3rd in the world cup events preceding the Games); he certainly has the ability to medal here. The key for him will be a great start in jumping. His last training jump today was great and should give him a good feeling for tomorrow. Bad news- he was throwing up with flu-like symptoms last night but hopes to shake this with rest and fluids today.
The ski jumpers got their first look at the K95 jump today. Their training scheduled for yesterday was blown out. Big surprise in training was the performance of the Japanese who have not done well this year. Especially shocking was "Happy" Harada who is 37 (10 years older than most of the field) and retired from world cup competition four years ago. No one could believe that he made the Japanese team. He then further amazed today by posting some of the longest jumps of the afternoon. There are 86 jumpers here. The field will be shrunk to 50 with a qualifying competion tomorrow... which will make for a busy day- we'll get the Nordic combined show put together for the afternoon opening of TV coverage. Then turn around and getthe ski jumping show edited for late night. Good news- it looks like all of the Americans will be in the jumping coverage tomorrow night.
Matt Vasgerdsian- the voice of Padres baseball and Olympic softball and baseball- will handle the play by play for all the jumping coverage. Tim Daggett who won gold and bronze as a gymnast in the 1984 Olympics will handle the sideline (outrun) reporting. Both Matt and Tim are new to the sport of ski jumping but have been learning on the fly and can almost pronounce Norwegian Roar Ljoekelsoey's name without flinching.
Brother Brad and his wife Barb arrived safely after circling much of Torino by taxi and finally finding a bus to Pragelato. Tonight Caitlyn Murphy and Leah Venti will use Pragelato for their base camp before an assualt on Sauze d'Oulx where the plan to cheer their pal Hannah Kearney in the freestyle moguls event- an event that will take place tomorrow night under the lights.
We've been waiting long enough- let the games begin!

Pragelato Seen

In the montains of Pragelato now. Torino very distant in many ways. Pragelato- a bank, a post office and a cluster of ski chalets divided by a small road and pinched to the southern exposed side of the valley by a pristine stream. Mountains scenic to the southeast, imposing to the northwest. Miles of "Torino 2006" fencing separating the ski jump and cross country venues from all of this. Carbarinieri (police) everywhere, imposing and demanding at first but quickly succumbing to their human nature which, to me, seems to jovial. Very social. Nils Stolzlechner is an old friend (we ski jumped together in the 80's) who is here working for NBC as the statistician. He's an enormous help as his Austrian upbringing gives him perfect German and great relations with the Austrians and Germans who are expected to do well here. Winding back to the point- Nils and I climbed through knee/thigh deep snow to the top of the small ski area that's closed for the Games. Carbinieri were hesitant to let us through but did- more curious by telemark skis than concerned about our risk to security.
The first official training jumps took place today for the Nordic combined skiers. The facilities seem perfect though the altitude and prevailing tail winds provide a challenge. Weather is beautiful- 20 degrees at night 45 during the day. We're in the sunshine above the clouds and haze of Torino. Weather tends to move in hard for short periods, then leave for long. The snow that's here apparently arrived in one such episode about two weeks ago and the sun has been hold reign since then. Reports call for good weather through the weekend though, in general, Europeans are not as fascinated by weather as Americans. No Weather Channel. If you ask someone what the forecast is, they are likely to look to the sky and predict whatever they see for the next day.
Many wonderful people already- Frederico and Philipo, drivers for NBC who not only drove me around the city but watched my bags for 4 hours while I had meetings. The production crew, too, a great group of folks- unpretentious, kind- who are really excited to be a part of the Games and even ski jumping (not always the case!). Lauren and Carly, interns over here getting TV experience with their leader- Sharon, a professor at Syracuse. Franceso the doorman, Roberta the big cheese a the hotel, Allesandro the driver (and Juventus hater). the Olympic experience is growing.
One last thing- photo of the Smartcar- the product of $4 - $5/gallon gasoline. Picture a golf cart that can go 85 mph. Easy to park, though.

Landed Torino

Easy travel beginning Saturday am by bus to MHT with Paul Robbins, US Ski Team (and other) journalist and NBC's color analyst for the cross country events. Since 1981 Paul has seen it all with the US Ski Team (all disciplines) and, more impressively, still recalls it all. A walking ski encyclopedia and a good travel buddy despite having his lighter confiscated by TSA screening in MHT (security risk). Flew backwards to Atlanta, then again over MHT to Milan 8 hours later, this time in business class with free movies and a bunch of other people who will be working for NBC at these Olympics. Understand that flying to Europe is an overnight proposition. You leave the US in the evening, fly through the night and meet the sun in Europe in the morning. We landed in Milan @ 8 am local time (2 am @ home), found another bus and had 2 hours of gray travel on a flat valley floor; no snow here but stories of abundance and avalanches (and sunshine above the clouds) in the mountains. Mountains will have to wait for a day while we hang in Torino for a production meeting on Monday.

Torino, I had heard, is a big soccer town (thanks Jeff Cook, Rob Grabill)... I wanted to check this out. Good luck found the home team of Juventus--the Red Sox (Yankees?) of Italy-- playing this afternoon. Great soccer, fascinating security. Given a mediocre/uninteresting opponent in Udinese I could get in for 30 Euros. Even with the stadium half full the energy was electric with fans literally beating drums and singing at the top of their lungs for the full 90 minutes. As this energy can turn negative quickly there are certain precautions taken. You must show passport/id to purchase a ticket that then has your name printed on it. You must show id again to get into the stadium. No scalping business here. You are restricted (penned) by 9' fences to the area immediately around your seat. If you're in section 8 and there's a riot in section 9, you're safe. And no scoreboard or running clock in the stadium. You need to remember the score and keep time yourself. Juventus pleased the fans with a 1-0 victory. Third bus ride home gave me a pretty good look at most of the city as it took a while to figure out the system. Was I supposed to pay? Probably, but the Italians are very generous hosts and no one asked. Less English here than I expected, frankly.

Back at the hotel there's an Italian reality show on the tube... giorno (day) 17 of an MTV Real World meets Survivor (someone had to leave, not sure why, many tears) meets American Idol (looks like you call in to vote someone off).

Mountains tomorrow.

Sarajevo- 1984

I was asked to pull together some comments on my Sarajevo experience. I thought it might add some perspective-

Sarajevo was never a winter sports town. None of us could figure out how they won the Olympics. They had neither history nor expertise in winter sports- picture mosques and mountains. And it was a poor city, not really fit for hosting an extravagant world event- even in 1984, before everything that followed. This is not to say that they didn’t pull off the games with style, they did- just not in a style that any of us recognized.

The snow that fell during the games was never brushed off the locals’ cars as there was not fuel to drive them. Cabs burned anything that would combust in order to milk the two week window of western currency that was available for them. I had the sense that none of the locals really understood the hoopla of these winter games, but appreciated the pomp, fanfare, and excuse for an international party. They were happy to have us and very gracious hosts. In retrospect I realize I was the more ignorant, not unusual for an American.

Everyone at the games- athletes and spectators alike- has their own Olympic moments and very few of these moments are particularly Olympic in the network TV sense of the word. In 1984 Scott Hamilton did a back flip and Bill Johnson won the downhill but the highlight for Kathy (my wife) was at the speedskating oval where the father of a US speedskater called out to his disappointed daughter- “That’s all right, honey- way to go! I love you!” The naked caring of this father’s voice more moving to Kathy than any gold medal performance she witnessed.

One of my fondest Sarajevo moments was sitting in the quiet no-man’s land of doping control with the ski jumping medal winners- a Finn, an East German, and a Czech- each of us with a beer to encourage the moment (perhaps celebrate theirs- I was 4th), none of us of the same tongue so using facial gestures and sign language to congratulate or commiserate… to acknowledge all we had in common without uttering a word. Imagine that.

Testing 1, 2, 3...

Hey, folks- this is a test. Can something that's free actually have value? We shall see.

Here's the plan- I'm leaving for Torino in 3 days and will begin posting once I arrive. The plan calls for touch down in Torino Feb 5 for meetings with NBC folks the 6th. I'll then head to the village of Pragelato, site of the ski jumping and Nordic combined XC for events that begin Feb 11th. There are a host of folks that will be joining me or passing through for visits. I'll share the experiences of our finest Olympic moments. Please feel free to weigh in with comments and questions. I've got my ears on.